Janni
Want to introduce players to genies who aren’t the all-powerful wish granters commonly seen post-Disney? The janni’s for you.
Besides some spell-like abilities, including thrice a day invisibility and plane shift, janni have two special abilities. Change Size (Sp) lets them shrink or grow a target, an ability which can function on themselves. The other is defensive, relfectign their origin as a mixture of all four elemental energies. Elemental Endurance (Ex) lets them survive on any elemental plane for 48 hours as if they were native to that plane, though time they spend their over that limit slowly damages them.
Janni are not bound to any elemental plane, formed equally from their energies and native to the material plane. Despite this, they are still genies and you would be best not to forget that. They take insult easily, but they also have a strict sense of honor and hospitality.Â
Interestingly, they're actually the closest to the original genie. In the old stories, the genies didn’t have any special magical powers when granting wishes. If you wished for money, they gave it to you from their own fortunes. If you wished for a castle they’d build it themselves, though more powerful genies could do it faster. It wouldn’t be impossible for a janni to offer a wish to adventurers in exchange for a favor, only to surprise them by actually putting in the work to see it through rather than simply snapping their fingers and having it done.
A janni runs a business at a planar crossroads, offering shelter to beings of all stripes. Daemons, ghouls, adventurers, angels, dimensional shamblers, and more all brush shoulders under its roof, barely kept in check by the strict code of tenancy. Those who break the rules by acting against another occupant or abuse hospitality are quickly evicted as the elemental servants turn on them.
A janni owed a favor and has been ordered to construct a castle. However, progress has been slow and parts of his construction seem to fail, forcing him to regularly restart entire sections. He has become infuriated at this, suspecting sabotage and harboring fears that he was never meant to finish the castle at all. He’ll commission anyone passing by to investigate the matter for him, though he’s careful only to promise vast riches as a reward after how this favor is turning out.
Two janni are in a competition to see who is better. They approach unwitting mortals and ask them to make a wish, then each janni does their best to fulfil it and asks the mortal to judge who did it better. The safest option is to say both did equally well in order to avoid angering one of the volatile outsiders, but this merely delays the problem as they seek out a new judge for their contest.









